The Phantom

Here's the second chapter of the story.

Chapter 2
“Bella!” The impatient young lady called out. “You’re going to miss the boat!”

“Just wait Suzie!” Bella called back from upstairs. “I’m just getting one more thing.” She grabbed her faded pink purse and stuffed a small knife into it, and then ran down the stairs, almost tripping down the last few steps; the coachman was putting her two large suitcases into the dark brown coach. “I guess this is goodbye, dear sister.” She said, tears swelling up in her eyes.

“Oh now, don’t cry! Just think of the wonderful time you’ll have over in London.” Suzie said to her sister. She pulled her closer and gave her a big hug. “Now, you’d better go.”

“Let me help you Mademoiselle.” The coachman said, helping her into the coach. He closed the door and Bella drew back the curtains and waved. The coach started down the road.

“Don’t forget to write!” Suzie called out to Bella.

“I won’t!” Bella called back.

Bella and Suzie Michelle were brunette twins that had lived and grown up in Paris. They had just turned twenty in the last month. Both of them looked identical except for the beauty spot on Bella’s cheek. Hearing about the splendours of London, Bella had decided to go and see what the city was like, as he sister did not like travelling. “Go!” Suzie had said. “You know I don’t like moving around places. I am like Mother, wanting to stay put. But you,” she had laughed. “You are exactly like Father, always wanting to go out into the world and explore.”

The coach travelled down the main, crowded road. There were sad looking mimes on the side of the road and creative artists, painting pictures of old buildings. “I wonder what London will be like.” Bella thought to herself. It was getting to be twilight time now and the sun was casting a pink glow on the white, fluffy clouds in the sky.

The coach turned down an alleyway to head to the dock when all of a sudden, it stopped with a jolt. Four men, clothed in black with masks over their faces were holding up the coach.

“Where do you keep the money?” A gruff voice asked

“It’s in the back of the coach! The frightened coachman said.

Bella quickly closed the curtains at the sound of the voices and grabbed the money pouch out from under the seat. She then slipped a black mask over her face.

One of the men stayed to torment the coachman as the other three men went to the coach door with devious smiles on their faces. The man with the gruff voice opened the door and saw two, small suitcases and a parasol. “Where’s your passenger?” He asked an evil grin on his dirty face. He went back to searching for the money and looked under the seats, the usual place to hide the money pouches, but it wasn’t there. He stormed over to the now terrified coachman and took him by the scruff of the neck. “What are you playing at?!” He yelled at him. “Where’s your money?” he said as he shook him. He loosened his grip as he felt a tap on his shoulder and looked around.

“So,” the masked lady said. “It is going to be the easy way or the hard way?”

The man looked behind her and saw his three other henchmen tied up unconscious. “What?!” He exclaimed angrily. He quickly pulled a shiny rapier out of his scabbard around his waist and lunged the sword at the masked lady who jumped backwards and pulled out her own shiny sword.

“The hard way then.” She said as she thrust her sword at the man who parried the attack and slashed at her with his sword. She quickly dodged the attack and moved in closer to him, in-between his sword and his chest, and grabbed his hand with the sword tightly in it. Before he could move, she punched him in the chest, winding him, and grabbed the hilt from out of his hand. “In the coach.” She said as she pointed the two swords in the direction of the door. The now scared man put up his hands and stepped inside the coach and the masked lady locked the door.

By this time, the terrified coachman had run to get the police. The thieves on the ground were just coming to and wondering why they were tied up.

“Bonjour boys.” The policeman said. “Now what have you been up to?” He put handcuffs around the three sitting dazed on the ground and walked up to the coach. He looked inside the coach, smiled and shook his head as he saw the angry looking man inside.

Bella slid her mask off and picked up her suitcases, she walked over to the coachman and handed him the money pouches and smiled. He thanked her gratefully, and then she walked away from the commotion as many people had come to look at the strange sight of the thief trapped in the coach.

“Where did the young lady go?” The policeman asked the coachman. He just shrugged his shoulders. “Was she Mademoiselle Belinda?! Did you see what she looked like?”

The coachman just shrugged his shoulders, “I didn’t really see what she looked like, I didn’t even think to ask for her name when I picked her up!”

Bella, or Belinda, her alias name, was a bounty hunter, a person that went around catching criminals. She and her mother were the only ones in their family who knew that her father was the same. He had been a bounty hunter, who had died on the job, trying to protect someone. Bella’s father had taught her how everything she knew about being a bounty hunter and she had vowed that, ever since he had died, to carry on his job, even against her mother’s wishes. Bella had caught most of the wanted men and women in all of France, and now she wanted a harder task. The real reason she was going to London, her sister didn’t know, was because she had heard of a thief called the Phantom. She had also heard that no one could catch him, so, in memory of her father, she had vowed to catch him.